A Spartan's Story
by Scorpio1902
Summary: This is a story of a girl and her best friend that get sucked into the halo universe, and join the Noble Team… Will they survive?
1. Chapter 1

**Authour's Note: Hey guys, I wrote this fanfic a long time ago, so when I stumbled across it the other day I decided to rewrite it and make it better. I'll keep updating it as often as I get the chance to, but for now, three chapters are refurbished and up. Enjoy! **

**Chapter 1**

In a small dreary town, the day was passing lazily. The sun shone down through wisps of clouds, and a gentle breeze blew. People slowly got on with their day; children were safely tucked away in classrooms, mothers gossiped over cups of coffees and full shopping trolleys, fathers angrily argued in their business meetings.

On the outskirts of town, every house was quiet and tidy except one. In this house, a girl sat curled up on the lounge room floor with a blanket wrapped around herself. A mountain of tissues was beside her, along with the emptying box. The girl had managed to get out of school as she was sick, and she looked forward to spending the day engaged in her favourite pass time. She was staring intently at her TV screen, an xbox controller firmly clutched in her hands. The screen changed as she started up a game. Halo was her favourite, and she poured every second of free time into playing the campaign again and again, and fought online matches with her best friend by her side.

An icon signified that her best friend was finally online, and as soon as she could open the menu, she was shooting him invites to the game and party. Not soon enough for her liking, he joined the voice party, and his gamertag appeared below her's in the matchmaking lobby.

"Jake! You took your time, where were you?" the girl wheezed out in excitement.

"Crystal, god you sound awful. I'm sorry, mum was yelling again, I needed to take care of my younger brother for a bit, but i'm here now," Jake said back, grinning at the enthusiasm Crystal displayed. "Why do you sound so horrible anyways?"

"Pfft just a small cold," the girl named as crystal replied. "Let's get into the game shall we?!"

_Half an hour later..._

"Jake! Watch out!" I shouted, quickly blasting the rotting brains out of a zombie that got too close.

"Thanks, Crystal," Jake replied, taking care of yet another one that came too close.

Despite our best efforts, we were overrun, and the game was wrapped up. A smile graced my lips as the overall score was displayed on the screen.

"Great score, Jake," I said. "It shouldn't be long before you are promoted again."

"Well, you got 20 kills, not bad for a young Padawan," he mocked.

"Oh, go float yourself Jake," I replied giggling.

Deciding we were over matchmaking, I moved us to the campaign lobby and waited for the map to load. There was silence in our two person party for a moment and it made me think how lucky I was to know Jake. Gaming was my escape from my family, my school life of bullies and turmoil, and from myself. When I was gaming, all self destructive thoughts left my mind, and after meeting Jake, everything had begun to pick up in my life. If only he lived closer to me, not in another state. Still, I was saving every cent in the hopes of being able to meet him someday. As I gazed into the starry loading screen, a thought came to me.

"Wouldn't it be so cool if Reach was real, Jake?" I asked, in another world entirely.

"Yeah, it would be awesome, but how would you explain the re-spawning?" he asked.

"Easy," I began, "Don't die. You know the catch phrase, Spartans never die."

We both chuckled as the game started, and we were quiet as we watched the cut scene leading us to meeting NOBLE Team.

As Six walked through the door and was stopped by Kat, I snickered and made a snide remark about how ugly she was, but I commented on how awesome it would be to have a robotic arm. As soon as the words left my mouth, however, a ball of light appeared on the middle of the screen. I freaked out thinking that my screen was broken somehow.

"Uhh, Jake, I think my screen is broken...," I began to say.

"You're not the only one, there is this weird ball of light in the middle of my screen," Jake's voice came back, equally as puzzled as I.

"I think it's getting bigger," i commented stupidly, not actually doing anything about it.

"Yeah.. I-it...can't.." came his static reply.

"Jake you're cutting out, I can't hear-"

The ball of light had gotten so big it was blocking the screen entirely. Out of nowhere there was a screeching sound that made my ears pop and i felt like my head was going to explode. I tried to yell, but my voice was drowned out by the noise and the light was getting so bright that it was burning my eyes. There was such a build up of pressure, then suddenly there was nothing. I had passed out and everything finally went quiet. There was peace.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

When I woke up, everything was fuzzy. My head was swimming, and my vision was blurry. My lungs burned as though I had been holding in breath, and my hands were shaky. Above me was a dull grey ceiling, but I noticed streams of purple cut through the boring colour, and the streams seemed to throb with life. I sat up slowly, shaking my head to try relieve the pressure, and I looked around. Around me, the same boring grey adorned tall walls, but still the purple veins ran through them. At one end was a giant opening, but it wasn't sealed with a window. Instead, the purple veins ended there and projected some sort of shield across the space, and they elicited a low buzz. The room, or rather, bunker, was so familiar, but I couldn't seem to quite put my finger on where I was. Panic started to set in as I realised I had no idea where the hell I was.

A few metres away, I spotted a sleeping form on a bed similar to the one I had woken up on. I ran over and started to shake the figure, desperate for answers. The person was definitely male, and he groaned as he rolled over - grabbing the small pillow and burying his face in it, sleepily asking for five more minutes of sleep. Letting my panic take over, I ripped the pillow away from him and pushed him off the bed onto the hard floor.

"Bitch! What the hell was that for?" he demanded in a creepily familiar voice. The man rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stood up, and I couldn't help but notice how attractive he actually was. He was wearing a tight black T-Shirt with grey jeans, and whilst he wasn't extremely muscly, his arms still displayed toned muscles that rippled when he stretched. He looked up at me with blue eyes, and swept his almost shoulder length honey coloured hair out of his face. I was broken out of my trance when he cleared his throat.

"See something you like, _Sweetheart?_" he smirked, and I wanted to be mad at him but I couldn't find it in myself to be so - however, I did scowl at his nickname for me.

"Who are you? Where the hell are we?" I asked, remembering my panic from earlier. I just wanted to go home. An introvert like myself wasn't meant for adventures like this.

"Well Princess, my name is Jake for starters," he said, slipping a hand into his pocket. "And I have no clue where the hell we are, but quite frankly I'm intrigued, even though i'm sure I would rather be back home playing xbox. Who may you be?"

"My name is Beth," I answered, the cogs in my mind turning. If he said his name was Jake, his voice was familiar, and he mentioned playing xbox, could he be my best friend? "Is your online name Insomniac by any chance?"

He perked up hearing his gamertag, and he nodded slowly. "I'm sorry but your voice seems familiar, is that you Crystal?"

Relief and excitement flooded through me. It was my best friend! After so long knowing him online, I finally got to meet him! Sure the circumstances weren't ideal, but at least I wasn't stuck in god knows where with some stranger. I ran towards him, and jumped into his arms to hug him close.

"I'm so happy I finally found you," I said into his neck. I felt him chuckle, and he wrapped his arms around my waist. We held each other closely for a moment, then stepped back with an awkward giggle between us.

"Wow, can I just say, you're so much more beautiful than I imagined you to be," he said to me dreamily, then he snapped out of it and began apologising for being so blunt. I felt a blush creep up onto my cheeks, but cleared my throat and looked away hoping he wouldn't see.

"Same goes for you," I replied. "But, we really should figure out where we are, because I don't know about you, but this situation isn't exactly ideal."

He agreed and we started looking around. On one side of the room I noticed the outline of a door that I hadn't seen there before, and so we started to walk towards it. Before we got very far, two beeps came across what seemed to be a comm line, then a silvery female voice followed.

"Human life form: Bethany Classified, and Human life form: Jake Classified, welcome. I am an Artificial Intelligence life form, otherwise known as an A.I. My name is Auntie Dot. The year is 2550, and you are on the planet Reach."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

My knees started trembling. My already shaky hands got shakier. My heart rate picked up. I felt a common panic attack coming on. Sensing my discomfort, Jake gently took my hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

"I'm here, okay? I know this sucks, but it's okay, because for me, I get to do this with my best friend," he said soothingly. "I promise I'll be here for you no matter what, okay?"

I nodded, and breathed in deeply, staving off tears. Auntie Dot's voice sounded over the comm again, and she directed us towards the door outlined in one of the bunker walls. I noticed that Jake hadn't let go of my hand yet, and despite my panic and distress, a warm fuzzy feeling pooled in my stomach, but I pushed it away and focussed on what was happening.

With a hiss, the door depressurised, and it slid open easily. With voice prompts from Auntie Dot, Jake and I made our way down a long corridor to what seemed to be the personal quarters section of the bunker. She told us the number for our room, and the code to get into it, then she informed us that we were to change into the clothes provided and wait for further instructions.

"Geez," I said as soon as the two beeps signifying she was gone sounded. "It's like we are prisoners or something. Do this, go here, don't do that, wear these clothes. She's almost as bad as my mother."

Jake laughed and ruffled my hair. "Now young Padawan Princess, don't get so feisty just yet. We best do what we are told to... for now at least."

The room Jake and I were supposed to share was medium sized; there were two beds that looked long enough for a giant to sleep on, a simple table with a couple of chairs, and some boring artwork adorned the walls. A small hallway led to a laundry, and a bathroom was opposite that. On the beds were cargo pants and black t shirts for both of us, along with combat boots and very plain looking underwear. Similar clothing was stacked neatly into the drawers next to each bed. A plastic bag was left beside each pile of clothing, seemingly to put our current clothes in. Not happening.

"Well, I'll go into the bathroom to get changed..." I said, suddenly feeling nervous about sharing a room with Jake.

"Oh yeah, of course, I'll get changed out here Sweetheart," he said smirking.

"Knock it off, Sith wannabe," I teased, gathering my clothes and marching into the bathroom. I heard him chuckling as I shut the door and started stripping down. I began to wonder what would be happening back home. I had no idea how much time had passed since I got here, and I wondered if my parents would be worried and be looking for me. Sure they weren't fantastic, but everyone makes mistakes in the end, and as much as they hurt me, I still felt love for them. I came to the realisation that I probably wouldn't ever see them again, and I began tearing up as I got dressed.

When I was finished, I rubbed cool water on my face and willed the redness from crying to go away. I looked at my reflection and couldn't help but notice how badass I looked. The cargo pants fit nicely, the boots felt like they were custom made for my feet. I was wearing a tight black tank top that honestly didn't leave much to the imagination. I looked up at my face, and though my body looked badass, my puffy eyes and long hair made me look like a pathetic damsel in distress. I pulled my long honey coloured hair back into a pony tail, letting my side fringe bounce back over my face. With one final deep breath, I opened the door ready to face whatever I would come across. I felt like some awesome soldier in a music video and the heroic attitude flushed over me. I stepped back into the bed room ready to talk to Jake about what had happened. We were both mature, we could do this.

"BETH DON'T LOOK!" Jake's voice screamed at me. "I'M NOT DRESSED YET!"

I couldn't help but burst out laughing at the sight before me. Jake was standing there with his new shirt somehow tangled around his neck and arm, and his pants were resting undone around his waist. What the hell had taken him so long to only be this far along in getting dressed? I slowly managed to stop laughing and I walked over to him and helped him get untangled, but not before noting how stunning his body was. Come on Beth, stay focussed.

Once we finally got it sorted out, and Jake was fully dressed, we stopped laughing and looked awkwardly at each other. Whoever knew there could be so much tension and awkwardness between people who had been best friends for ages.

"So... I wonder how long it will be before Auntie Dot comes back with the latest order," I joked around. My stomach chose that exact moment to start grumbling like a whale. I looked down at it and sighed. "I would kill for some food right about now though."

"Amen to that, Sweetheart, I'm absolutely starving," Jake agreed, smirking in that handsome way of his. I flipped him off upon hearing that silly nickname yet again, and he chuckled but was rudely interrupted by the double beeps foreshadowing that Auntie Dot was about to speak.

"Beth, and Jake, now that you are fully dressed, you are ready to meet your new team members," Auntie Dot chimed. "If you walk out of your room and turn right, follow the purple line on the wall until you reach the mess hall. Your team will be waiting there for your arrival."

Jake and I became serious again. As awkward as it was being around each other, it was already easy to forget about the pretty serious predicament we had gotten ourselves into. As we walked towards the door, I began to feel anxious again, and I sighed shakily.

"It's okay, Beth," Jake whispered, taking my hand and interlacing our fingers. "We are doing this together."

I smiled tensely back up at him. "Together," I confirmed.

_After getting lost and finally finding the mess hall forty-five minutes later..._

Walking through the hissing sliding doors of the mess hall, Jake and I received many stares and gapes. It looked like the armour and uniform clad people that lived here were astonished at mine and Jake's presence. As we scanned the room for our new 'team', a group of Spartans stood up from the back corner and nodded in our direction. I squeezed Jake's hand with excitement.

"Jake! ohmygosh, JAKE!" I yelped, causing more attention to be drawn to us. "It's NOBLE Team!"

He began to say something, a smile on his lips, but Carter, the leader of NOBLE stepped in.

"Jake, Beth, nice to finally meet you in person," his strong voice boomed from much higher up. I tilted my head back to stare up into his face.

"In person? What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, suddenly feeling a strange chill down my spine.

"Well, let's discuss that over some food," Carter said knowingly. "You've been here a while without anything to eat, so you must be famished."

We agreed, and allowed him to lead us over to the table where the rest of NOBLE Team still stood respectfully, waiting for their Commander. When we got there, he nodded slightly, I wouldn't have noticed if I wasn't staring right at him. At his cue, they all sat down almost in unison which startled me, but Jake and I took our seats and politely started eating the burgers provided.

"In answer to your question from before, Beth," Carter started, "Our supervisors have been doing what they do best, and they've been scanning past age earth for anyone suited to the role of filling in NOBLE six and seven. They deemed you and Jake ideal, the fact that you were friends wasn't even discovered until much later, but when they found out, they thought it fitting as it would provide more familiarity when we commenced the time jump to our time."

Taking in Carter's information was overwhelming to say the least. Time jumping? That wasn't a party of the Reach story. Noble seven? That wasn't canon either. I still had so many questions, like what would happen to our families? Seemingly reading my mind, Jake's voice chirped up from beside me.

"But you can't just rip us away from our families and expect them not to freak out and go searching," Jake said, puzzled. "And what happens when they never find us because we are in a whole bloody different time frame?"

"That is where the use of clones come in," Kat, Carter's second started speaking. "We replaced both of you with identical clones. Unfortunately, clones have weak immune systems, so they will end up dying of natural causes."

Completely overwhelmed by this point, I started to tear up. Jake once again was there to grab my hand and hold it tightly. Seeing this, Jorge smiled, but Kat scowled. Someone wasn't used to touchy feely, I noted.

"Anyway, back to the subject at hand," Carter said gruffly. "You two will need to go through serious augmentations to get you up to date so you can fully join NOBLE. These augmentations will take several months to achieve perfectly, and most of which you won't even remember because you'll be heavily sedated. We are all prepared for that so we will get started right away. Auntie Dot will take you to the medical bay."

Feeling like I hadn't learned much, I was suddenly whisked away out the door and down the hallway with Jake. We walked towards the medical bay and he kept a hand on my shoulder to be a reassurance for me. Medics came out to meet us, and suddenly I felt very cornered and vulnerable.

"Jake, I have a bad feeling about this," I said as the medics came towards us. They were fully suited up in green scrubs and full face masks, and quite frankly I didn't want them anywhere near me. Instinctively, I moved towards the closest source of comfort as they got closer, which just so happened to be Jake. I quickly slipped behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist, burying my face in his back and willing the medics and this stupid mess away. To no avail, however, as the medics finally reached us and grabbed my arm firmly to pull me off.

"No! No please don't take him away from me," I begged, panic rising in my voice. "I only just got him back!"

"Beth, Sweetie, I promise you everything is going to be okay," Jake said, desperate to calm me. He lunged away from the medic and wrapped his strong arms around me, and I melted into his embrace. If there was one thing I was most scared of, it was ending up truly alone. I felt the medic grab my arm again to pull us apart and I turned around and started to try fight him off. I managed to land a few punches, ignoring Jake trying to stop me and hold me back. Unaware to what was happening, the other medic reached into a pack on his leg and pulled out a nasty looking syringe. As I landed another solid punch to the now pissed off medic, I felt a jab in my shoulder and immediately everything started going fuzzy. I saw the medic reach out to grab me, and I started falling backwards, the drugs taking effect.

Jake once again played the hero and caught me as I fell, lowering my body slowly to the ground. I squinted up at him, but there were six of him and every single one of them was spinning. I was vaguely aware of him telling me _"It's okay, Sweetheart, everything is okay"_. Just as I felt the last threads of consciousness breaking apart, I could have sworn I felt his lips on my forehead, but then darkness overtook me and nothing could be certain at all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The next morning, Jun rapped on my door until i sleepily dragged myself out of bed and opened it, rubbing my eyes comically and yawning.

"Wake up Spartan, you're in the army now, not in some lazy town on Earth!" He chirped with a voice that was too happy for the ungodly hour it was. "Get yourself suited up and meet me outside, then we can do your first stealth mission to scare the hell out of Jake when you wake him up."

Smiling at the idea, I quickly donned my armour and checked the time on my HUD. Shit. It was 0500 hours. Back on Earth, i would still be dead to the world at this time, but surprisingly enough, i wasn't missing it. My new spartan features were demanding that I get my butt into gear, and I was rearing to go.

Meeting Jun outside, we snuck up to the door of Jake's quarters, and Jun overrode the lock with his security clearance. I stopped for a moment to take in the sight of Jake lying sprawled out in bed, looking absolutely adorable as he was fast asleep. We tiptoed in and i slipped into the bathroom, and, after soaking a flannel, i slapped it down across his face. He woke up with a yelp and he grabbed my wrist. Performing some crazy ninja move, he managed to shove my helmeted head into the mattress and he whispered, "Don't you ever do that again or i will bloody well kill you in your sleep."

Jun started guffawing at the grumpy Spartan. "Well, Six, i guess we learned our lesson. Note to future us: don't wake Jake or we will regret it."

_After a dose of vitamins and breakfast..._

"Today, we will be training," Jun said.

"Why? I know everything I need to know, Jun," I replied, a puzzled tone in my voice.

"The reason we are doing this is to get you both up to full strength. You are a lot faster, stronger, and taller than you are used to being. You need to learn how to use your new body properly," Jun said. "Both of you have been equipped with a special ability. Six, yours is jumping. Yes, Spartans can jump pretty well, but you can jump much higher, and further, than any other Spartan that exists. Jake, yours is speed. You are ten times faster than any other Spartan alive."

Before we started, Jun pulled me aside. He was holding a data chip in his hand, and he gestured to my helmet.

"Beth, you have been equipped with an AI slot. Her, or rather its, name is Deja. Treat her nicely," he spoke. He moved behind me, and as Jake walked up to us, i felt him push the chip into the slot in my helmet, and suddenly an ice cold feeling flooded my mind. I felt another entity in my mind, and i presumed this must be the AI Jun was talking about.

_Hello, Bethany. I am Deja, don't worry about me getting in the way of your life, or thoughts, i will only activate when you need me, then i automatically go into standby._

The silvery voice startled me, but then i relaxed and got my head back in the game of training.

Training was, well, easy. I cleared every situation I was put in with ease. I saw Jake found it easy too. Jun, however, put up a certain course that ended my 'course clearing spree'. He set off quite a few holographic elites, and explained to us that all their attacks would feel real. For example, if a needler hit you, you better run because if any other needles hit you, they would explode inside you. Ouch. That didn't sound good.

Training started, and I ran for cover. Yeah, I was a lone wolf, but I did try to stick close to Jake.

Jun had let us choose our own weapons, and I had chosen a Sniper Rifle and a Shotgun. Climbing up on a ledge, I lay down and prepared to snipe. I had 12 bullets, so I could afford a few misses. An elite carelessly tripped over a piece of shrapnel, and gave away his position. I took aim, and fired, pumping his brains with a bolt of lead.

Another elite came over to see what was happening, and I shot at it. I missed. "Damn!" I said out loud to myself. Being more careful, I shot again and clipped its shields. "Really?" I asked myself. Shooting again, I took it down.

_I could help you kill them more easily, Beth._

_no thanks Deja, I have to do this on my own. You will be extremely helpful in battle though._

_As you wish, Beth._

I saw Jake running into a group of four elites with a shotgun, and cleverly taking them all down. I was impressed, and decided I could do better. Jumping off my ledge, I ran through several elites, sniping each one of them. My Sniper Rifle ran out of ammo, so I chucked it down on the ground and got out my Shotgun and prepared for action. I saw one elite standing about seven metres away from me, so I started to go towards it. Unfortunately, I walked straight into a trap, and I heard the sound of an energy sword being activated behind me.

"No!" I heard Jake shout in the background.

_Beth!_

Pain. I felt the burning sword of pure energy slice down my back.

I screamed in pain, and collapsed and faintly heard an alarm being sounded, and Jun running into the training grounds. Jake got to me first and knelt down beside me.

"Beth! Beth, it's going to be okay. Please just stay calm," I heard him say. Medics rushed into the room towards me, and the last thought before I passed out was _"So you really are as pathetic as everyone back home always said you are..."_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

My eyes cracked open. I was lying on my side in a sick bay. Great. What had I done this time? Looking at the time I saw it was 1930 hours. I groaned as I tried to turn over, but gave in to the pain.

_Please, Beth, I can help close the wound on your back so your back is smooth again. A scar will still be there, but it won't hurt anymore._

_Ok Deja, just make it quick._

There was an itching sensation on my back as Deja healed the wound. The skin was knitting back together, and my back was once again smooth. I heard a knock on the door, then a voice.

"Beth, are you awake? Can I come in?" Jake said.

"Sure, come on in, Jake," I said quietly. He came in and walked straight over to me. He sat down beside my bed and grabbed my hand, and subconsciously started rubbing his thumb against my palm.

"How are ya feeling, girl?" he asked.

I chuckled. "Been better."

I still had most of my armor on, but from the waist up, all I was wearing was a cotton shirt.

"It's all coming back to me," I said. "I saw how you ran into the group of elites and take them down, so I decided that I could do better."

"Oh, Beth. You're an idiot, aren't you?" he laughed. He leaned over and gave me a quick hug. "Hey, the reason I came was to ask if you were up to a race? The Noble Team, it seems, have a racetrack. We are gonna pair up and use mongooses. You have been recovering for a while and we kinda thought you would want to join in... Wanna play?"

"Hell yes, yes, I'm going to play. Who will I go with?" I said giggling.

"You will ride behind me, and that's that," he said firmly, but his green eyes were twinkling and laughing.

I smirked at him and stood up to put the rest of my armor back on. He walked out of the room to go tell the Commander that I would be participating. I pulled up the gel skin suit that went under my armor, and then proceeded to put on the rest of my armor.

Using the tracker on my HUD, I found the other Nobles quite quickly, and smiled at what I could see of the racetrack.

"Come on you slow coach!" Jun yelled. "It's been ages since we had a race, and I am ready to beat all your asses!"

"Not to burst your bubble or anything, Jun," Emile started. "But we don't have any donkeys around here..."

Jorge hit him over the head for his stupid joke, and the rest of the team chuckled.

"These are the teams," Carter started. "Kat, you're with me, Jorge with Emile, Jun with a random Marine or ODST because he sucks ass, Beth with Jake. Go find your vehicles and mount!"

Jake and I found our mongoose, and to our delight, it was purple. The race is on, people!

I jumped into the drivers seat, and Jake chuckled as he got on behind me.

"Beth, don't go too fast," Jake said through a private comm.

"Jake. Really. This is a race, and I am on your team," I said. "Of course I am going to go fast."

The race started, and the others all took off. I lagged behind a bit.

"What's the matter, Six? Are we too fast for you?" Jun said through the comm.

I didn't reply, but I knew exactly what I was doing. Looking up ahead, I saw a sharp corner coming up. When the others slowed down, I pulled the throttle hard and we zoomed past them. We drifted around the corner, and then I sped up again going down a straight.

"Woohoo!" I yelled. "This is awesome!"

In no time at all, everyone except Jake and me and Carter and Kat had been knocked off the racetrack. It came down to the finale straight. The others, as I said, had either slid of the racetrack or had lagged too far behind, and they were waiting at the finish line. We were already going as fast as we could, without completely ruining the engine. Carter and Kat were slowly going past us.

"Ha HA! Take that Beth and Jake!" Carter yelled as they past us. No. I would not let them win!

I pulled the throttled harder, going way faster than the engine could withstand, and we sped past them. The engine started to make a really wrong sound. Looking up, the finish line was near, and everyone was waiting and watching to see who would win. The engine started whining. The finish line was right there.

"Bail out!" I screamed. We both jumped off just as the mongoose exploded. I flipped in the air, and landed on my feet, sliding a meter. Jake landed beside me, and pieces of shrapnel from the mongoose flew past us. Well, that was a heroic ending to a silly Spartan past time.

The rest of the Team came up to us and Jorge hoisted us up onto his shoulders.

"YEAH!" they all screamed. "JAKE AND BETH! YEAH!"

I laughed as Jorge put us down, and I hugged Jake. We all then went to the mess hall for dinner.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

It was late. 12am to be exact. We had all gone to our quarters. The quarters all were next door to the other, with a small window in the wall so we could communicate with the next person if we wanted. I was in quarters in between Jorge and Jake.

I decided that I needed to take a shower, so I did. I then changed into shorts and a tank top, and proceeded to clean my armour, then i not so gracefully fell into bed.

Later that night, I was awoken by a loud _SWISH _sound. Looking around my room, I saw a light in the corner. Then, I heard feet shuffling, and I realised a Sangheili Elite was in my room, cloaked with invisibility. Well, this could be a problem. Reacting quickly, I grabbed my pistol and jumped out of bed.

"Jake! Wake up and get through here!" I said through the window. I heard someone stumble out of bed and walk out of their room and into my room. When Jake saw the elite, he snapped awake and pulled out his knife. I saw what he intended to do, and started distracting the elite, hoping that it wouldn't notice Jake behind it.

"Hey! Over here!" I said. "Bet you can't get me!"

The elite shuffled towards me, and Jake acted quickly. He reached up and grabbed the elites shoulders, and used its leg armour to climb up it. He wrapped one arm around it's chest, and use the other to slash across the elite's throat. The elite fell to the ground, dead.

"Beth! Beth, are you ok?" Jake asked. He looked concerned as I sank down onto my bed.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," I said. "It was just a bit of a shock. What was it doing in my room? How did it get here?"

"Let's wait til morning before we answer that question, shall we?" he asked me gently. I stood up and walked over to him and he opened his arms. I sank into his chest and he held me as I shivered from shock.

"I shouldn't be so scared. I am a SPARTAN after all," I said chuckling.

"Hey, its ok. Just go back to bed and we will deal with this tomorrow," Jake smiled at me, and I smiled back. "I am surprised Jorge or the others haven't woken. They must all be very heavy sleepers…"

I agreed, and after one last hug, Jake left and went back to his room. I crept quietly over to my bed and fell asleep.

The next morning…

"Wake up, wake up!" Carter barged into my room. After the event a few hours prior, i was startled, so i immediately grabbed my pistol and shot him in the foot.

"Yowch!"Carter yelped. "Why would you do that?"

He started hopping around which was hysterical to watch. I knew it didn't actually hurt that much; he was just carrying on. Carter then noticed the dead elite on the floor and froze.

"What on earth?! Why is there a dead elite in your room Beth?" he asked me frantically. By this stage, Jake had come through and was standing behind Carter.

"Beth woke up last night and found this elite in the corner of her room. It tried to kill her, but I didn't let it," Jake said.

"He assassinated it," I said.

"Well, congratulations on your first assassination," he said to Jake. Turning to me he yelled, "Why didn't you tell me last night when it happened?!"

"We thought it would be best to leave it till morning," Jake said. "And Carter, please, it was my idea not to tell you, so please don't yell at Beth. If anyone, yell at me."

"You two are a funny pair, aren't you? Always protecting each other," he said. "Lets go get the others and then head down to the mess hall for breakfast. Beth, you get into your armour while Jake and I go and get the others, ok?"

We agreed and I started to change into my armour. I pulled the gel lining up to my waist, then looked at my back in the mirror to see if there was any scarring from the training incident. Yes. There was a line form the top of my right shoulder going across my back to my left hip. Lovely. The scar, however, was only very faint, as though it had happened a long time ago. Sighing, I continued to get my armour on.

I met up with the others and we started walking towards the mess hall. The mess hall lay over a ridge overlooking a lake. It was quite a beautiful place.

As we got to the ridge, we all stopped in shock.

"Noble Team, prepare for action," Carter said through the comm.

Right before our eyes, were several dozen Covenant drop pods. Elite, Hunters, Jackals, Grunts. They were all there. Everyone started sprinting for the weapons bunker and we picked out our weapons.

Once we were all tacked up and ready to fight, we stepped back outside and prepared to face the battle. Marines were already fighting, and plasma was everywhere. I ran into the fight with Emile and Jorge by my sides. Shooting an Elite in the face, it immediately dropped dead on the ground. I took out copious amount of jackals and grunts, then moved on to help the others with the larger Covenant species. Seeing a plasma grenade on the ground, I grabbed and stuck an Elite, who quite stupidly ran off into three of his kind, exploding them. I chuckled, then I went for the Hunters.

Booyah! This was what I brought my rocket launcher for! There were only four Hunters, but I was going to make them wish they never even set foot on Reach. I saw a slanted rock, and ran up it. Jumping off, I shot my rocket launcher at one of the Hunters backs and took it down. The next one was harder. He had turned around, protecting his back from me but I shot my rocket launcher anyway. The rocket sent him back a few feet, and I reloaded. Reloading took a little longer because I was constantly dodging spheres of burning, green plasma.

"Noble! I need backup!" I yelled into the comm.

"On my way, Six," I heard Jake say back.

Taking aim again, I took out the Hunter, but before I could react to the others, I was sent flying. A Hunter had punched me across my back. I landed on my arm which cracked a few times, but I got up and started reigning bullets from my DMR down on the next Hunter. Jake came up behind the beast and started pummelling its back.

"Jake! Watch out!" I screamed.

The one remaining Hunter came up behind Jake and lifted his arm to punch him. I ran over and jumped up over him, pushing him out of the way. The Hunter brought its arm down on my and I crumpled to the ground. I saw the other Nobles running over taking the Hunter down on the way. Some red liquid started dripping down into my eyes, and I soon realised it was blood. I blacked out.

When I woke, I was in a hospital room. Great. What had I done _this _time?

_Beth._

A green figure came to life on a holo pad on a console. It was wearing casual clothes. A t-shirt, jeans, a leather jacket and black sneakers. Deja was also carrying a skate board with a UNSC logo on the underside of it.

_Deja. How are you?_

_Just fine, but I should ask, how are you?_

_I feel bloody fantastic._

_I heard sarcasm in that, Beth._

There was a knock on the door and the Noble Team came in, smiling and greeting me. All of us were dressed in casual clothes, even Emile, but he still had his helmet on. Jake jogged over to me and enveloped me and a bear hug.

"Six, how are you feeling?" everyone asked me.

"Just fine now that you are all here," I smiled back at them all.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

It took about two months for me to fully recover, and by that time Noble Team had completely wiped all trace of the Covenant in the area. Carter had surprised us by taking us on vacation to a pretty much deserted base in the middle of nowhere.

"Beth! Come back here!" Emile shouted.

"No way! You want to tie me into a warthog and send it off a cliff! YOU'RE A PSYCHOPATH" I yelled back.

"Oh come on. It won't be that bad!" I heard him shout back.

I groaned. Emile had come up with this ridiculous idea about thirty minutes ago. As soon as he had gotten the idea, he looked straight at me thinking I would be perfect for the job. I had been running away from him ever since. Panting hard, drenched in sweat, I had really had enough of this already. I ran into the lounge room where everyone was either reclining on the sofas or sitting using their data pads.

"Help me please!" I said between gasps for air.

"No can do, Six, we are all enjoying ourselves, and as long as Emile is busy chasing you, we are able to sit here in comfort. You are on your own!" Carter laughed at me.

Nearly in tears, I suddenly had a great idea. Even though I was big compared to Marines and ODSTs and humans, I was actually quite small compared to the Spartans, and miniscule compared to Jorge who was a Spartan II. I lay down on the ground in the doorway, and curled up into a ball. Emile came running into the room, but didn't see me. He tripped over the ball in the doorway and stumbled towards Jorge. Jorge caught him in a big bear hug, giving me time to escape.

As I jogged through the corridor, I heard Emile shout:

"Let go of me Jorge! Now is not the time for hugs! I must complete my objective!"

I kept jogging and I burst out laughing, but then heard Emile's footsteps in the hall behind me.

I ran around the massive base once again, and then back to the lounge room.

"I've had enough!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. I seriously felt like I was going to pass out and die. Damn my drama queen side. I hid behind Jake just as Emile ran into the room.

"Where, oh, where are you?" Emile asked me.

He spotted me hiding behind Jake and ran around so he was in front of me. Before he could try and grab me, I punched him, and he retaliated. I dodged and decked him, and he went flying. I turned to walk away, but he grabbed my foot and pulled me down. As I fell towards him, the only emotion on my face was that of anger. I twisted around in the air, and brought my hand down onto his jaw, making an imprint of my fist on the skin. Jumping up I waited for him to stand up. When he did, I kicked his shin.

"Ouch! That's not fair!" Emile squealed with one hand on his injured jaw, and another on his shin.

"Aw come on you big baby! You are the assault specialist on the team, but I think I should take your place!" I mocked.

Toughening up, he was just about to punch me, and I was dropping into a fighting stance, when a robotic arm blocked us from each other.

"Come on, Kat! I was having fun beating Emile up!" I whined.

"You two are Spartans and you are fighting like children!" she shouted. "Now grow up!"

"Yes mum," I said sarcastically. As she turned away, I kicked out at Emile, and got him in his lower stomach. He yelled in pain and fell to the floor. I chuckled and sat down beside Jake, snuggling into his side when he wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

_**A couple of hours later…**_

Carter had been off doing some paperwork and was walking back to the lounge room where the rest of Noble Team was. When he got just a few corridors away, he heard a yell and ran into the room. He looked down to see Jake on the ground doubled over in pain. Emile was laughing his head off a few feet away.

"What just happened?" Carter asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Emile found a rubber band…" Jun started to say.

"He put it around Jake's head and stretched it back, and…" Jorge added.

"And I let go!" Emile said with a proud and triumphant look on his face earning not only an extremely stern look from Carter, but also a slap across the face from me.

Carter sighed and helped Jake to his feet.

"OUCH! There's going to be a mark! Is there a mark?" he asked, mock sobbing.

"Yep, right there!" Emile said, smacking Jake on his forehead, and I immediately got between Jake and Emile and hit him.

"Back off, Emile," I said, protective anger surging through my voice.

Carter sighed to himself as he watched Emile, Jake, and me. _Why did I get these three on my team? He thought._

I walked over to Jake and hugged him. He smiled down at me and I couldn't help but laugh at the purple line across his forehead. Walking over to Emile, I gave him a hug too. Surprised, he returned the hug, but was then shoved down onto the couch.

"You are IT!" I yelled at him. Noble Team laughed and started running away from Emile. We played Tag until the sun went down, then we collapsed in a heap in the lounge room.

"Ugh, we are being so childish," Kat said.

"Come on Kat! You are so boring and mature!" Jun said. Everyone but Kat laughed as we sat around stuffing our faces with pizza.

_**The next day…**_

We were all standing around the bench island in the middle of the kitchen, drinking coffee and finishing up breakfast.

"Hey! Want to see what I found?" Emile said. His big blue eyes lighted up.

"Okay, what is it," Jorge asked. Emile ran off to get whatever it was he found.

"Its probably an old lolly pop," Jun said, chuckling.

He came back with an odd looking gadget.

"It's a leaf blower thingymiggar," he said proudly, mischief in his blue eyes.

"That thing is ancient!" Kat exclaimed. "From the 21st century and all!"

"But its still fun to play with," Emile said. He turned it on, and pointed it at me, blowing my honey coloured hair all over the place.

"Hey! Stop!" I said laughing. I scooped all my hair up into a pony tail so it wouldn't get in the way.

He looked cheekily around the room and asked, "Does anyone have an office chair?"


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"YAHOOO!" Emile screamed as he flew down the street on his office chair/leaf blower contraption. Jake sighed and grabbed my hand. We ran around the corner after Emile and straight into a girl with what looked like her boyfriend.

"Who is that?" asked the girl.

"An idiot and somehow, our friend," I replied. We heard a crash and a bang and Jake looked at me. "Oh, no!"

We ran around the corner to find Emile sitting under a fruit stall, and his contraption was lying in quite a few pieces.

"It exploded! Good thing I was wearing my armor," he said.

I couldn't help but laugh at him and Jake laughed too as he walked over to Emile. He helped him up, paid for all the food that was originally on the stall, and said, "Ok, Emile, time to go home!"

"Aw, already?" Emile whined.

"Yes already!" I said. "We have been playing with that leaf blower for 6 hours!"

I linked arms with him and Jake took my hand and we started walking home.

When we got home, Jun and Carter were watching a movie from the 21st century, The Avengers, Kat was in her room reading and Jorge was reading some old book that didn't interest me.

"Next time Carter, you have to come!" I said. "It was SO much fun!"

Carter laughed, and said, "Ok, Six, you got it. Next time Emile finds an office chair and a leaf blower, I will join in. Possibly."

I was so tired I just went straight to bed. Lying there, I remembered. Tomorrow was my birthday. I wondered if Jake remembered or not.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

The next morning, I woke up at 0600 hours. I slipped into some track pants and a tank top, and walked into the kitchen. Everything was dark. I looked around, and saw the end of a streamer on the ground. I tried walking towards it, but was interrupted by the lights coming on, and confetti flying all over me.

"HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY BETH!" everyone shouted.

_Happy Birthday BETH!_

Looking around, streamers lined the ceiling, balloons littered the floor, and on the island in the middle of the kitchen was a beautiful, blue iced cake. I started giggling uncontrollably with joy. But someone was missing.

"Where's Emile?" I asked. Carter chuckled.

"Uhhh, well, umm," he started. "Jun and Emile were messing around with the streamers, and well, Emile got a bit tied up…"

I laughed hard, and Emile stood up from behind the counter. He was well and truly tied up in streamers.

"I don't know what to say!" I breathed out. I walked around the room and gave everyone hugs. Jake walked over to me and said, "Happy Birthday, Beth."

Staring into his eyes, I got lost in them. I was daydreaming about how good it would be to kiss him right now, and suddenly I actually felt his lips against mine. I gasped, but then I started kissing him back. We broke away from each other, and then he enveloped me in a hug. All around us, the team chorussed "Awwwwwwww!"

Emile handed me his newly sharpened knife to cut the cake with.

"Remember Skye, when you touch the bottom, you have to kiss the nearest boy!" Kat laughed. I cut the cake, and turned around to kiss Jake again slowly.

We ate the cake, and then we ran outside to have some fun. The team had already prepared some water balloons and we had a massive fight. In the end, we were all drenched and laughing as if spartans don't have a care in the world. I found a footy, and we played a game of football, then we had a game of basketball. Jun ran around spraying everyone with disinfectant spray due to us all being sweaty and dirty from the games. (Yeah, in this story, Jun is a clean freak) Without realizing, we played all day, and before we knew it, the sun was setting on the horizon.

Going inside, we went straight to our warm, soft beds.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

As our vacation went on, Kat got more and more irritating. She kept yelling at us for no reason, and just being plain annoying. The team had planned a picnic up on a cliff, and Emile, Jorge, and Jun had already gone up there, leaving Carter, Kat, Jake and me to pack the four huge picnic baskets. We were in the four-wheel drive waiting for Kat to come out of the base.

"Beth! You have left your room a mess! I expect you to clean it as soon as you get home!" she screamed at me.

"Seriously, you're not my mother. Shut up and get in the car, Kat," I snorted at her.

"No. You have to drive the car over to me first," she replied, turning her nose up in the air.

"Yeah, not likely," I said, and drove off leaving Kat behind, flipping me off in anger.

"Wait for me!" Kat screamed. Jake and Carter burst out laughing.

"Hopefully that will teach her a lesson!" Jake shouted over the wind.

"Yeah!" Carter replied grinning.

We arrived at the picnic site and Jake and Carter unloaded the stuff. Kat came speeding up the cliff on a mongoose; her face red with rage. I chuckled, and picked up my Sniper Rifle to go and do some target practice with Emile.

"How dare you!" she screamed. I giggled back.

"Come and do some target practice with us!" I said in a mocking voice. She moved to punch me, and I held up my Sniper at her.

"Kat, I go have a Sniper Rifle and I am not afraid to use it," I said in a grave voice. "Don't even think of hitting me."

Kat sighed and said, "How come we have a Hyper Lethal Vector on our team? Anyway, what are we going to play?"

"Let's play Spartans and Elites!" Jake said.

"What the… What the heck is Spartans and Elites?" Emile asked.

"It's the Spartan version of Cops and Robbers!" Jake said laughing. "The Elites are running from the Spartans. Beth and Emile, you are with me. Carter, Kat, Jun and Jorge, you are the Elites. This bunker is the prison. Go!"

We played Spartans and Elites for quite and while, then we sat down and had a late lunch. After lunch, Carter suggested we play 20 questions, and that turned out to be a big mistake. After a while, we were all bored, so we had a competition to see who could take down the most targets with a Sniper Rifle. I won, and we went back to the picnic area and we all sat down against a massive boulder watching the sky turn pink as the sun set.

Jake scooted closer to me, then pulled me into his arms. I rested my head against his chest, and saw Carter do the same with Kat. We all watched the sun. It was a truly beautiful sight. Looking off the cliff and onto the horizon, the gorgeous orange sun sank down lower and lower. The way the golden rays of the sun shot up into the clouds, turning them a soft red was amazing. As the golden jets of light shot down onto the land making it pink, I felt filled with energy. The sight was enchanting, and the pink land held my gaze. I was content. In this world of craziness and war, I was finally content. Looking at my wonderful team, I realized they were all as close as family to me, and I loved them all. It all felt right somehow.

Jake pushed me back a little bit, then asked me to go with him. I got up and he took my hand, leading me away from the team but still in view of the setting sun. He rested a hand against my cheek, and with the other he held my hand.

"Beth, on your birthday when we kissed... I felt like i was flying. It made me think about how close we are, and how i want it to change. I've felt this way for a while now... Damn I'm not good at this," he chuckled nervously and I saw the cutest blush on his cheeks.

"Hey it's okay, just spit it out," I said quietly.

"Okay... Beth, I'm so in love with you and I have been since before we arrived on reach together. I want to be with you and take care of you, protect you and love you for the rest of my days... So, will you be mine?"

By now, tears of happiness were sliding down my cheeks and I moved closer to Jake. "Yes, yes Jake I will be yours, so long as you will be mine forever... I love you."

The sun was dipping lower and lower, and as the golden light shed it's rays on us, I let my eyelids fall shut as our faces moved closer. Our lips finally met, and we kissed passionately and poured our love into each other. Today had been the most perfect day of my life.

Once the sun had gone down, I took Jake's hand, and we walked back to where the rest of the team was now getting up. Jake lead me towards the mongoose that Kat had driven up, and I quickly caught on to what he wanted to do.

"Race you home guys!" I shouted then jumped on behind Jake, wrapping my arms around him, smiling.

In order to win, we took a short cut and were back at the base in no time. As the rest of the team pulled up, we were standing around drinking coffee and eating cookies, much to their annoyance. For the rest of the evening we sat around playing board games until we all either fell asleep on the couch or retired to our quarters.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

_Beep, Beep, Beep._

I woke up to the sound of my alarm going off. Without opening my eyes, I picked up my knife and threw it across the room. It embedded itself in the wall right next to the alarm console.

"Every single time you do that, I'm terrified you're going to hit the console," Deja's voice came from the speakers.

"I would never actually hit the console, Deja," I replied chuckling. I sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes.

"Are you up yet, Beth?" Carter's voice came through the comm.

"No, I'm still asleep," I replied sarcastically.

"Come on, time to go. The Pelican is waiting for you," he said.

I really wasn't looking forward to fighting the Covenant in less than 5 hours. We were so lucky to have gotten a break from the war, but now it was time to get back into the fight. I sighed as I stood up and showered quickly, then suited up and got going.

I jogged down to the Pelican and was really grateful for the fact that my armor was comfortable, maybe i could get some z's on the flight.

Everyone was waiting for me and we boarded the plane. It was a decent flight back to our old base, so once we were airborne I slipped out of my flight harness and slid over to Jake so i could fall asleep against him while we waited to arrive.

"Okay everyone, strap in, I'm preparing to land," Kat spoke over the comm. We all sat down and I shivered with excitement. It had been ages since we had seen our old base and I was excited.

"Oh my god," Kat said. She sounded horrified. "Commander, you had better come forward and take a look at this."

As soon as Kat set the pelican down, we all jumped off to see what she was so horrified at. When I jumped down, I immediately stopped in shock, and slumped my shoulders with depression. Carter put a hang on my shoulder and asked, "Do you want to stay in the Pelican?" I shook me head.

I walked around. Corpses from the people who had been taking care of the base lay everywhere, and the scary thing was that the corpses were fresh. The stench of death hung thickly in the air, making everyone feel sick. Whoever, or whatever did this was probably still around.

"Well, talk about a warm welcome," Jorge, said, gulping.

I groaned and doubled over as I turned a corner. The room was full of body parts. Arms, legs, heads. It was horrible. Jake put his arm around my waist for support. I buried my head into his armored neck. He put his other arm around me as Carter passed us.

"What did this!?" he yelled, infuriated. "All of those good people. Dead. There were so many young marines here, too. They're all gone!"

"Carter!" Kat hissed. "Keep your voice down! Whatever did this might still be here!"

A growl answered her. "Emile! Stop growling! This is a serious situation, you know," Kat said harshly.

"That wasn't me Kat," Emile whispered. Another growl, much louder this time cam from the back room.

"Jake? What was that?" I asked in a shaky voice.

"I don't know, babe, but just stay with me," he said protectively.

Emile walked up beside me and shoved me forward. "Stop being so afraid! You are a super soldier! A Spartan!"

In anger, I took out my pistol and shot his foot. The bullet only grazed his skin, but I knew it stung. The sound of the gunshot only seemed to anger whatever was out there.

Carter walked over to punch me. I deserved it, but Jake wouldn't let him past.

"Now is not the time to be punching people, Carter," Jake said, placing himself in between Carter and me.

"Don't question me!" he yelled. A monster emerged behind him from the back room. It was HUGE! Bigger that three Hunters, but the way it moved was similar to one. It had an arm that came down into a club. The other hand had four long, clawed fingers on it. The creature had transparent skin, and raw red muscle pushed against it. It had red eyes and a huge mouth that gaped open. Rotting gums gave way to horrific fangs that crowded it's mouth. It's appearance was similar to that of Wendigo on steroids. It stood up straight and it growled again and it sounded like thunder. Blood came out of its mouth as if it had just eaten something. The monster swiped its clubbed arm at Carter.

"Commander!" Kat screamed. She rushed passed us and pushed Carter over. She fell heavily on top of him and rolled off to fight. The creatures club had missed Carter by a centimeter. Jake ran forward and chucked a grenade at the creature. The grenade just made the monster angrier. We all opened fire, I concentrated on its head. I saw Emile and Jorge go around behind the monster and shoot its back.

_I will supply you with extra shielding. Go!_

_Deja, you are a lifesaver. Literally._

I ran over to the monster and used its clubbed arm as a sort of ladder. Jorge and Emile continued firing its back as I climbed up to its head. Unsheathing my knife, I jumped and brought the knife down into the flesh of its neck. The monster screamed and stumbled around, using it's clawed hand to try scrape me off it's back. I jumped through it's fingers and climbed higher, swinging down around its neck and slicing it's neck open. Blood poured out of it's throat, all over my armour. Shaking off like a wet dog, i walked forward as the monster gave a final groan and collapsed on the ground. We all crowded around the thing with puzzled expressions on our faces.

"What on Planet Reach was that!?" Jorge asked.

"Whatever it was, it was extremely unclean," Jun said. He then pulled out a huge bottle of disinfectant and started pouring it over the monster.

"Jun," I called. "It's dead. There's no point."

"We need a new base. This one is wrecked," Carter said as Jun came up behind him.

"First, I think we should name the monster," Kat said. "What about we call it the Berserker?"

"Great name choice, Kat," I said, swiping my fingers across my visor in a 'Spartan Smile'.

"Well, NOBLE, now might be as good a time as any to tell you that we are getting a new member. The higher powers decided our little team needed to do some more fighting, and so they are sending a new member to help us out. We should go meet him now, there's no use sticking around here in this depressing hellhole."

"Sweet, new member, maybe I can have a friend for once..." Jun whispered as all walked back to the pelican to meet our new team member.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

We had gone to the co-ordinates that HQ had sent us and waited. Eventually, we heard a Falcon in the air. It hovered above us, and a Spartan jumped out, his armour absorbing the landing. His armour was full Recon and his colours were Red and White. Nice mix.

"Hey Guys! I'm your knew Spartan! My name is Thom. How are ya doing?" he asked us. His demeanour was a little cocky, so I was on my guard instantly.

"Hey hey. This is Carter, our commander, Kat, his second, Jun, the clean freak, Jorge and Emile, the inseparable two, this is my incredible boyfriend Jake who will not hesitate to kick your ass by the way, and i'm Six. Welcome to our little Ohana," I said, removing my helmet. The other's followed suite, and we greeted the new face with smiles all around.

"The hell kind of name is six?" he asked snobbishly.

"That, Thom, is my nick name," I replied, narrowing my eyes in a challenge. Jake came up beside me chuckling.

"Well Thom, we should be moving out," Kat said. We all groaned, not wanting to get back in the damn Pelican, so she relented. "Ok, ok, we can stay the night here if you want so badly."

Jake and I laughed. I looked around. Not too far from our position, there was what seemed to be an abandoned battlefield. All the bodies were gone, but the weapons still remained.

"Hey, lets play 'Who can find the most plasma grenades and get to Carter first'!" Jake shouted. I giggled at how immature and lame my team could get sometimes, but nodded nonetheless. He and I paired off and Jorge and Emile went off together. Jake and I grabbed as many grenades as we could and ran back to Carter with Jorge and Emile hot on our heels. We beat them to Carter and dumped our grenades down in front of him.

"What's this?" Carter asked, stopping his conversation with Kat and looking down at his childish teammates.

"You have to count them and see who got the most!" I said out of breath.

"Okay, Kat, you count Jorge and Emile's pile," he said laughing. She sighed and started counting. Thom laughed with Carter and started helping him count. Jake and I ended up with 50, and Emile and Jorge only got 40."

"Only ten off!" Emile shouted. "I don't believe it!"

By now, Carter had really had enough of us being immature, said, "Go and explode something with these grenades!"

"Yeah! That sounds great!" I said, already a plan forming in my mind.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no!" Carter said to Kat. "Why did I say that?"

Kat laughed and shook her head at the fact that the members of her team were stupidly crazy.

Jake picked up all the grenades and I ran over to Thom.

"Now, Thom, you have joined this team, you are going to have to get used to our immaturity!" I told him.

Jake looked down at me and kissed my cheek, smiling. We put out helmets on and spread through the abandoned battle field; anything we could get out hands on we exploded. Old plasma weapons, plasma batteries, little rocks. Yeah, stuff like that. I saw a huge boulder and slipped behind it to see if it concealed any secrets.

All of a sudden a beautiful blue sphere landed next to Thom and exploded the ground. He jumped back in fright.

"What the shit was that?!" Thom screamed.

"Toughen up, baby! It seems that Beth found a wraith!" Jake laughed. "Don't worry too much. As long as you don't get in her way, you'll be fine!"

Unfortunately, Emile reacted badly to the wraith coming around the boulder. His instinct of "kill anything that belongs to the covenant" took over and my fun went downhill very quickly. He threw several plasma grenades at it. I didn't see them and kept driving.

"Beth! Get out!" Jake screeched. "Get out!"

For some reason my helmet comm jammed and I didn't hear much of what Jake said. Detecting the stress in his voice, however, I jumped out to make sure everything was okay. As soon as my feet hit the ground, the plasma grenades exploded, as did the wraith. The force of the explosion sent me flying, and i skidded across the ground as elegantly as a drunk hyena, and managed to hit my head quite hard.

Carter ran past Jake and the others to me and removed my helmet.

"Beth? Are you okay?" he asked me.

"Wha… Who did that?" I said quietly, slightly dazed. Carter helped me up to my feet and I leaned against Jake for support.

"How many times have I told you to be careful with what you stick with plasma grenades?!" Carter yelled at Emile.

"Carter, let me talk to him," I said, shaking my head to try get rid of the ringing in my ears. "Emile, you egg, come here please."

He walked over to me and he took off his helmet to apologise, but paused when he saw the dangerously calm smile on my face.

"What are you going to do, Beth?" Emile whined. He looked scared. I smiled again, and reached up to where his knife was. I pulled it out of its sheath, and then threw it on the ground. I stomped on it only once, but that was enough to slightly bend the blade, and cover it in scratches. His knife was his life, that would teach him a lesson.

"No, no, no, no!" Emile shouted. He looked close to tears. "Please no!"

I picked it up off the ground and handed it back to him. Thom backed slightly away, and I turned to look at him.

"Yeah thats right, back up, if you get on my bad side you'll wish you were never born," I said with a smirk. Jorge watched his teammates with a fond smile on his face; they knew how to beat each other up but they all loved each other and that was all that mattered.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

After all that messing around with our newest team member, we had flown to the new base. It was in a jungle, which was nice for a change. There was a row of dorms a nice walking distance away from the mess hall. I was given a dorm in between Emile and Jake. Great. Emile would keep me up all night sharpening his knife and cleaning his shotgun.

As the months went on, we were sent out to fight numerous numbers of Covenant, and all but once we defeated them. One that one occasion, we were forced to retreat, and get back up to full strength. When we had, we went back and finished the fight. We completely destroyed all signs of the Covenant that were in the area.

Thom was really fitting in with the team. He, Jake and I had become best of friends. We were constantly hanging out together and fighting together. We were always telling jokes and laughing about the weirdest and littlest things. Carter and Kat looked on with smiles on their faces as they watched us.

Several months later...

An alarm woke me up earlier than usual. I groaned, pulling the duvet up over my head to try drown out the noise. I snuggled closer to the warm body beside me in search of protection from the duty call. Jake and I had decided, to save space, we would share quarters. Okay maybe it wasn't just for space reasons, but that was a good enough excuse, right? I sat up, yawning, and looked at the flashing red alarm on the console across the room. Great. Another call to clear all traces of the Covenant in the area. We had been given a report that there were more Covvies than usual in the area, but I was ready. I leaned down and kissed Jake, then got up and suited up to get ready to run.

When I looked in the mirror, what I saw scared me a little. Looking back at me, was a Super Soldier, holding a DMR with a Sniper Rifle on her back. She had massive muscles, and grenades lined her waist. Her hair fell spilled down over her amour like honey. She had a strong jaw, and deep brown eyes. The messy hair was scooped into a pony tail and her helmet shoved onto her head. Her gold visor completely hid her emotionless face. She was a Hyper Lethal Vector. She was a Spartan. It was a daunting prospect. Life had changed so much for me. Jake broke me out of my daydream by brushing my arm, and we walked out the door.

When we got outside, we were greeted by Thom, who was carrying his helmet under his arms and looking like Death himself.

"Thom, are you okay?" I asked with a hint of concern in my voice. "You look terrible."

"Haha, I'll live," he replied. I could see he was forcing a smile at me. "I am a Spartan after all…"

I wasn't satisfied with his answer, nor the way he looked at me. I walked over to Kat and Jun who were talking tactics. I didn't join in their conversation though.

"Jake, Thom doesn't look so good, do you think he's okay?" I asked my boyfriend, a concerned frown on my face.

"No, the other day he was in the tack room, acting like he was drunk. He was talking gibberish and seemed like he had a fever. When I asked if he was okay, he looked terrified - as if I was going to shoot him or something," Jake replied. "I think we best keep an eye on him, yeah?"

I agreed, and we walked down to the Falcon bay. The team was split into two Falcons, and we were flown out to the battle zone. The cluster of Covenant enemies below us was enough to sent chills down the toughest of spartan's spines. As soon as we hit the ground, we immediately split up and scattered in our well thought our attack plan. Jake and I cleared a path, then I dropped down and started sniping any enemy that moved while Jake watched my back and took out any stragglers. Once all the Covvies in our area had been mowed down completely, Jake and I advanced. I spied a pair of hunters, and I looked up to tell Jake to back off and let me kill them, but i ended up speaking to the dust his feet left behind as he made a beeline for the creatures.

"Jake! No!" I shouted into the comm. "Don't you dare kill those Hunters!"

"Watch me, bitch," he said calmly back into the mic. Without hesitation he shot it in the back then pummelled it down. Growling, I ran up behind the other one, and climbed up its back, jumped, and flipped through the air and brought my knife down its back. Jake just stood there staring at me in shock.

"That... was... AWESOME!" he shouted through the comm.

"Shut your mouth, tiger, you're drooling everywhere," I said, smirking as i walked passed him.

I looked around. We were going to win this one for sure. I let my gaze look over each member of the team, seeing if they needed assistance. Thom was tempting fate as he took on more than he could handle. Four Hunters plus suicidal grunts. Great.

"Thom! You can't do that by yourself!" I shouted into the comm, but it was too late. He tried using my tactic by distracting them and then taking them down, but it wasn't working for him. A Hunter stood up behind him and roared. It brought its heavily armoured arm down on top of Thom, and he crumpled under the force and weight of the blow. Another charged up its plasma gun and aimed at Thom. I ran. I ran as fast as I could.

"Noble down! Need assistance!" I shouted.

"On my way," first Jorge then Emile said back.

I tried shooting with my Sniper Rifle, but it was out of ammo. I needed to get to Thom and fast. Looking around, I found a big rock sticking out of the ground. I jumped off the side of it, sending flying parallel to the ground towards Thom.

Stumbling to my feet when i landed, I started running again, but Jake flew past me, and fell to his knees beside his best friend. Seeing Thom was in good hands, I turned to utterly destroy the rest of the hunters around me. After brutally killing three of them, I played with the fourth one for a bit before sneaking behind it and plunging my hand into the soft spot on it's back, pulling it apart by ripping it's wormy flesh open.

When the rage of bloodlust left me, I turned to see Jake ripping off Thom's helmet, then taking his own off also. Tears were streaming down his cheeks as he saw the extent of his friend's damage, and he was having a hard time accepting Thom's fate.

"Guys, help me up, i can't do it on my own," Thom wheezed, specks of blood flying out of his mouth as he spoke. Jun and Jake helped him sit up, then let him lean against a piece of debris so he could see us all.

Thom looked up at his Team and smiled. He finally had a team that he hadn't abandoned yet. He had finally found a team worth staying with. He said, "I have had fun with you guys. You are the best Team in the universe, and i sure as hell am gonna miss you. Spartans Never Die."

Thom closed his eyes and breathed one last time. A few tears rolled down his cheeks and he left us. I leant down crying and hugged him, then stood up. Slowly, as if in a daze, each team member paid their respects to Thom by hugging him or kissing his forehead, maybe both. They all got up and started walking slowly to the evac zone, leaving Jake kneeling there by his fallen warrior of a friend. I walked slowly over to him, as if not to startle him, and I helped him to his feet.

The ride home was dead silent. Everyone was in shock of the turn of events. Jake leaned heavily against my shoulder, and when we got back to the base, we all just went our separate ways. I watched as Jake moved emotionlessly, undressing and washing almost mechanically, then he climbed into bed and curled up, crying himself to sleep. I cleaned up the armour he left strewn around the place, tears spilling down my cheeks as I saw a picture of Thom, Jake and I on one of the drawers.

I quietly undressed and got into bed beside my lover, wrapping my arms around him and pulling him closer to me. He woke up when I lay down, turning around to face me. We kissed gently, comforting each other. Wrapping our arms around each other, we held each other close in a warm embrace, and let our sorrow wash over us before darkness swept over the room and stole our souls away into nothingness, until dawn.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

The next morning, it rained. I got up to look out the window, and it was beautiful outside. The rain only seemed to make the jungle around us look even more mystical and perfect. It was a good morning for Thom's funeral. Strong arms wrapped around my waist, and Jake rested his tear stained face against my shoulder.

"He is at peace now, baby," I said quietly. We cleaned up and put on our dress suits quietly, still honouring the memory of our dear friend. Carter came to our door and told us that everyone was ready for the ceremony. The entire base was drowned in a sorrowful silence, and we walked down to the burial sight. It was a beautiful place. Kat had found a small clearing in the jungle; A little waterfall emptied into a body of water which then flowed down in a stream around the clearing, and right in the middle was where we chose to bury Thom. Grief hung heavily in the air as the dirt was filled into the hole in which Thom lay. His funeral would always stick with me, it was a day no one could forget. His gravestone read:

Here lies

Thomas

2530-2552

He was an honored and trusted Spartan of the Noble Team.

Remember Thom. Remember what he gave to help Reach.

True Spartans Never Die.

In the year 2554, the Human/Covenant war ended. The Humans won, and the Covenant were forced back to a corner of the galaxy, without Reach. The day we won, the whole galaxy shouted with praise. My Team was a team to remember. In the year 2555, Jake asked me to be his wife, and I of course, accepted. We had a stunning wedding, and a beautiful cake. Kat and Carter decided to tie the knot later that year, and we all hung around one base and established it as the NOBLE home. As the months went on, it was time for me to move on and start a different story. Life had been hard during the war, but that was what I wad made for, and boy i was looking forward to a good fight in the future. The Noble Team saved many lives, and spent the rest of theirs defending Planet Reach. They were worth remembering, so please, remember Noble Team. Remember that Spartans Never Die, they only go MIA. Remember how we fought for mankind and drove the Covenant away.

**Remember Reach**


End file.
